


Welcome to the Concrete Jungle

by DestinyxDarkness



Series: Telltale's; The Walking Dead - The Blue Comet Series [3]
Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Aromantic, Asexual Character, Betrayal, Canon Gay Relationship, Dubious Morality, Established Relationship, Eventual Happy Ending, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Other, Polyamory, Romance, Teen Romance, Thriller
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:07:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29169306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DestinyxDarkness/pseuds/DestinyxDarkness
Summary: Nestled within the growing community of New Richmond, Primrose and her people lurk behind the walls like an animal poised to strike.They've waited patiently for those two years to tick by before they can go searching for the elusive group of people from the third season of the Telltale's; The Walking Dead, and lord/Blue comet help whoever stands in their way.Little do they know, one of the people they would have called an ally threatens their plans and safety in equal amounts. That traitor of theirs is intent on bringing them down, even if they have to burn the entire world around them to do so.
Relationships: Arvo/Doug (The Walking Dead), Ben Paul/Jesus (Walking Dead), Clementine/Gabriel García, Clementine/Mariana García, Conrad (Walking Dead)/Francine (Walking Dead), Eddie/Wyatt (Walking Dead: 400 Days), Eleanor (Walking Dead)/Original Female Character(s), Javier García (Walking Dead)/Original Female Character(s), Javier García/Jesus (Walking Dead), Javier García/Luke (Walking Dead: All That Remains), Kate García (Walking Dead)/Original Female Character(s), Tripp (Walking Dead)/Original Character(s)
Series: Telltale's; The Walking Dead - The Blue Comet Series [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1556881
Comments: 13
Kudos: 10





	1. Midnight Whispers

_"Comet, comet, pretty stone in the sky. Why and where you appear, nobody knows why"_ The little nursery rhyme came to mind one night as I leant softly backward over the balcony to our apartment complex. The sky hadn't been clear for nearly four years, but my eyes couldn't help but scour the sky despite the blanket of black obscuring everything from view. _"You shine so bright with your pretty little blue tail, if we truly wish for something from you then you'll never let that wish fail"_

At the age of twenty-one, I was returning to my dorm room one night with my university friends when that odd blue comet seemed to streak across the sky. Not knowing what it might mean, one of my friends suggested we wish upon it as he had mistaken it for a shooting star in his drunken state.

As for me, I had gone to university with a sole reason in mind. After becoming absolutely addicted to a series of games, I had gone there with the sole purpose of learning how to make video games; primarily in the hopes I could make my own happy endings to the stories of the characters within them. And so, I had wished for the ability to give them those deserved endings, even if it might have been seen as the most selfish of wishes.

I had no real quantifiable proof that the blue comet had done anything with my wish. But the following morning I had been delivered underneath a tree-house of a beloved character from those games. Whether it had been that I got brought to an alternate universe or simply made up my very own world with some kind of odd spiritual power, there I was.

 _"But pretty comet, you must be so tired from all the wishes being made. In order to make it fair, we'll give you a little trade"_ Before long, those idle thoughts of the nursery rhyme turned into me softly humming the tune, as I had begun to hear it far more often since the birth of Rose and AJ. The world might have ended, but certain traditions stuck through the ages it seemed. _"Only someone who wants their wish above anything else will have their wish come true. In this way, we're hoping that you'll always stay you"_

After losing Lee within one hour - the man supposedly who would keep everything together with his team-working skills and leadership - I took my newfound knowledge of their world by the horns, refusing to allow anyone else to die a grisly death in that new world. Since him, I had gone through two of the four seasons and kept every good person alive and happy. In return nearly all of those characters (thirty-nine followers in total) willingly came with me to the New Frontier to save those who would appear from the third season; an army willing to fight with me and for me in equal measures.

Truth be told, the title of 'characters' didn't seem right for them anymore. They were family, filled with love and care for one another, and that hadn't changed now that it had been four years since I had come to their world.

"You're up late"

Speaking of love, the sliding door to the balcony opened just enough for Jane to slip out with a small cup of tea in her right hand. I knew it must have been for me, as Jane herself admitted that she had sworn off things that held alcohol or caffeine in them in order to keep her mental faculties sharp. I couldn't say no to a gentle brew of tea however, as it reminded me of my good old home in Britain.

"I've been thinking about the comet a little bit. I'm mainly up to see Nick when he comes home from the excursion group though" I explained what had been keeping me up that particular night, curling my fingers around the hot surface of the cup; allowing it to heat up my cold fingers. Even when I tilted my head back to look at the sky again - it didn't look any different than before - so it lost my interest just as quickly.

"He won't be long" Jane knew that I worried about him, but she knew just as well that little reassurances did wonders to soothe my nerves. The gentle way she brushed my shoulder with her own communicated a tender meaning behind it, something that she often would only do within the security of our own home away from prying eyes. In the two years she had been with me in New Richmond, she truly hadn't changed a bit from how she had been at Howe's Hardware.

While we all could be seen as family, there were a number of people who I was biased to in several regards. Not only did I practically adopt Clementine as my very own child (with Duck and Sarah being prospective children of mine as well), but there were nineteen people in that group who willingly started a relationship with me after discovering that I was bisexual and polyamorous. Ten of those had been from the people from the very first season, another four were after two years once I had found the second season cabin group and the final five had steadily come to the realisation of their feelings after we had settled ourselves into New Richmond.

Jane was one of those final five. It didn't take her long at all to make up her mind on how she felt about me - she was one of the first out of those five to say anything to me about it - bridging that small gap between us within a couple of months after we had somewhere more solid to stay. Despite my assurances that she was allowed to be in a relationship with other people if she so wished (such as Omid, who already in a committed relationship with Christa when he and I got together), Jane had very bluntly told me that she didn't want anyone else. She was there for me or for nobody at all, and it certainly showed in the fact that she didn't like to show off her affection to me in front of others in public; keeping all signs and bits of PDA behind closed doors.

After taking a small sip of the tea she had given to me, Jane took the opportunity to sneak a kiss from me right as the hint of cinnamon in the old tea bag traced my tongue. The chuckle bubbling up my throat came naturally as a response to that, my lips applying just the barest amount of force to combat her own fierceness.

"There we go, now I've brought you back down to earth" She let out her own laugh once she pulled her lips away from mine, her words giving away that it had been a sneaky ploy to make sure that my wind wouldn't overwork itself with abstract thoughts about how the universe worked. "Come inside, it's getting too cold out lately"

"Alright" I decided to follow after her back into the apartment, quietly sliding in through the sliding door after she did into the dark common room. It was starting to get that bit colder, meaning that the summer heat was beginning to leave us for the autumn change.

As thanks for our involvement in starting up New Richmond alongside Cliff, we as a group of forty were promised an entire floor of an apartment complex to use however we pleased. The common area located in one corner of the floor was where people mainly spent their time - taking a spare moment to relax on the couch and two lazy chairs there, or possibly cooking in the small kitchenette - but otherwise we had allocated rooms... Except for myself, as I occasionally would shift from room to room whenever one of my lovers needed particular attention paid to them at that time.

It was beginning to get real hard to always meet up as one gigantic group, as our differing tasks within New Richmond often meant that people were up at different times during the day. Most notable was Nick's assignment; infiltrating the secret raiding party within the military forces that Joan had started about a couple of months after she had been instated as one of the four leaders of the New Frontier. Considering how suspicious most people within that group had been when Nick tried to join, he was kept under a more watchful eye than most who joined their ranks; making him stay five nights out of seven with them, and making him carve an extra symbol into his body aside from the typical one branded on military members.

The sound of someone clunking their way through the apartment floor quickly clued me in that another one of our late nights returnees was just finished with their task. Neither Jane or I were worried, as the systematic thumping of their foot was a dead giveaway for someone who we knew for quite a while. After hearing the footsteps get closer to the common room, it didn't surprise us at all to hear the doorknob turn and confidently open up to Troy's tired face.

"Ah, I was wondering whether I was the last one up" He mumbled tiredly, making his way into the common room before he dared to shut the door behind him. Like Jane, he didn't look all that much different from his appearance when I had first met him, beyond a couple more hairs springing up on his chin that turned his solitary moustache into a joint beard/facial hair combo.

The common thumping noise came from the moon-boot worn on his left foot - the very same one I had been wearing on my own left foot when I had gotten mine broken two years prior - something that Troy was going to have to get used to wearing for the rest of his foreseeable life. After my broken foot had fixed itself, Carlos and Katjaa (our two resident medical experts) unfortunately had concluded that his sprained ankle had developed into a chronic condition of ankle instability; the joint threatening to roll or twist itself nearly all of the time Troy would walk without support. That combined with the pitch black eyepatch covering his empty left eye socket, the branding he had willingly taken on to support the theory that we were part of their community (he wore his on his right shoulder, with the idea that most people wouldn't see it as it was) and the special leather gloves - that Doug, Glenn and Sarita had made just for him - to support his hands, most callous people described him as a walking liability.

"Welcome home" I sincerely was glad to see him back from his night watch duty at the front gates of New Richmond, smiling softly at him over the dim lighting. As it generally did, my loving tone seemed to somewhat go over his head, at the very least not being returned with the same sentiment.

"Thanks" Troy's tone wasn't dismissive towards my feelings; he and I understood that he just didn't get those same feelings of love. It hadn't been something that he had ever experienced in the first place, so it wasn't uncommon now to see that he still didn't reciprocate those words. "Is there still some hot water for coffee?"

"Still on the stove" Jane answered him, her sitting down comfortably in one of the lazy chairs as he mumbled his gratitude and shuffled/stomped his way over to the hot tea kettle.

Despite his aromanticism, Troy and I were lovers of one another... Although he often admitted to me and others that the term 'lovers' didn't sit well with him. In the bluntest terms, we were friends with benefits.

That didn't mean to say that he didn't feel anything beyond sexual attraction towards me (something which he openly admitted that he had from the beginning). Troy explained that he saw me as a comrade, partner in crime, that sort of thing; the kind of person you cared about and wanted to spend time with but didn't necessarily need to _own_ in any manner. He trusted me above all others, and considering his orientation I considered that to be the highest praise he could give me.

"Why're you two still up?" Troy only dared ask me once he had his own cup of coffee in his hand, trudging his way to stand beside me so that he could lean one of his arms around the back of my neck. Being physically intimate was one of his best features, because he knew that I appreciated small gestures of affection like that very much. "I know Jane likes to keep watch over the night when Carlos is asleep, but what 'bout you Prim?"

"I'm waiting for Nick to come home; it's the sixth day in the week" I smiled into my teacup right as I took a sip, silently pleased at my special nickname still being bandied about. My birth name had always been Primrose - after the flower my mother had loved so much - but I had never particularly taken a shine to people trying to shorten it... Right up until Shawn and Kenny from this world begun using it as a loving moniker. Now I couldn't get enough of it.

"Probably just because she loves him endlessly, but also because we're waiting on him to tell us when to go find this third group" Jane had memorised the things I had told her long ago, just like everyone else had. The best indication we would have when Javi and the others were near Prescott would be when Nick informed us that it was on the radar to be raided by the secret group of his, which would give us a number of days (possibly even a week) to go and find them based on the raiding party's previous raids.

It wasn't just that of course; I was worried about Nick's mental health the longer he was placing himself undercover there. There was only so much one could do to pretend to be a heartless bastard without it affecting you personally, even if most of the time Nick managed to save far more lives by interfering in key situations with other trouble-making members of the raiding party.

The sound of even more footsteps our way did rouse my attention for a brief moment, but discarded it when I noticed that there were two sets rather than one. Nick wasn't foolish enough to take one of his 'buddies' back home with him to our special floor, which meant that it couldn't be him.

"I swear, they blame us for everything that goes missing even if it doesn't come from our department!" In came Russell, bitterly complaining about how his role as a supply keeper was being taken for granted. He alongside Wyatt - who followed in right behind him - were keepers of the weapons in New Richmond, but it seemed that other departments were having troubles as well. After being momentarily hushed by Troy for being too loud at that time of night, Russell calmed himself down and began again. "The scrap department claims we've been taking some of the metal sheets to melt them down and use them for bullets or weapons"

"Wouldn't it be more likely to be the bullet and weapon makers who would steal it then?" I couldn't help but ask, not understanding the scrap department managers logic in that case.

"It seems logic is for the weak" Wyatt derisively said, huffing and collapsing on the nearby couch with a crumple of leather. I swear that Russell somehow looked taller and lankier than he did before, but the only real difference going on with him was the fact that his afro was beginning to grow out again. Wyatt, he was rubbing his longer blonde beard in thought, possibly wondering whether he should cut some of it unlike Kenny who didn't want to. "...Prim, has there been any sign of new survivors joining?"

My special task within New Richmond was to inspect the people wanting to integrate into the community, and keep an eye on members already existing here in case things were not up to snuff. Clint had appointed me to that from day one - claiming that I had a real way with people - and I had made it a particular task of mine to keep an eye out for Eddie (Wyatt's boyfriend) ever since. Unfortunately, for what must have felt like the millionth time to him, I had to shake my head to say that there had been no sign of Eddie yet.

"...Damn it" He grumbled, his head falling back in frustration as a hand came up to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"You're welcome to check McCarroll Ranch at some point" It hadn't been the first time I had offered it to him, but I wanted to make doubly sure that Wyatt wasn't sticking around due to some feeling of obligation. "Joan has control of the people there, and she's been finicky lately to let me see the list of workers there"

"No, it's alright" Wyatt was still certain that he wanted to stick by us, even if it meant meeting up with his significant other later in time. It did make sense; he had been with us for over a year patiently waiting within New Richmond, so leaving now would feel pointless in comparison. "I'm still with you guys"

Just as I was beginning to wonder whether we were going to be visited by everyone within our group before that one specific person, I picked out the sound of one pair of footsteps coming up the stairs. Whoever it was seemed to be quite tired, their foot occasionally dragging behind them in a scuffling noise over the carpeted floor.

The doorknob turned sharply and opened to Nick looking as tired as I expected him to be by this point. No matter how many times I had seen it, I was still drawn to the cut mark left behind horizontally over the bridge of his nose and parts of his upper cheeks. Aside from the branding on his left bicep, that too had been something that the members of the secret raiding party insisted that he do to prove he wasn't a spy. But even with those marks marring his tan skin, I could still see the adorable dork I had fallen in love with - albeit his five o'clock shadow had changed into a neat short beard instead.

"Welcome home" I greeted him just as lovingly as I had Troy, something that many others could easily note that I specially kept for either my lovers or my adopted children. Despite how tired he was, Nick returned the sentiment with a warm smile.

" 'M back" He returned it, yawning quietly into the back of his hand a moment later. Troy was more than happy to softly unlink his arm from behind my neck, giving Nick the space to wrap his arms around me and give me an affectionate squeeze while gently rubbing his forehead against mine. "Is there food?"

"A pot of tomatoes and homemade pasta, made especially by Walter" Jane answered his question for me, pointing over to the large pot left behind on the countertop for the four people who didn't get to eat dinner on time with us. Before Nick was forced to disentangle himself from me, Jane already stood up and started to make her way to the kitchen. "Go ahead and sit down, I'll get you guys some"

"Thanks Jane" Russell thanked her for that, already going to sit in the chair she ended up vacating. Wyatt, Troy and Nick also murmured similar notes of gratitude, before we all found seats.

Nick was eventually forced to release me in order to actually eat the food presented to him, but before long we sat around in the common room eating and drinking in relative silence. From the quiet mumbling that came from Troy it appeared to be that the food had gone lukewarm in the meantime despite having a lid on it, but from the content noises it seemed that Walter still remained one of our better cooks in our cozy little group.

"How's it been going in the raiding party?" I brought up the subject before he could possibly get too tired to talk about it, but the low long sigh coming from Nick seemed to signify that the answer was not as great as I had been hoping for. "Bad?"

"Badger's getting to be a problem" Nick put it bluntly, as he knew just as well as anyone else that Badger was going to be one of our major problems in the future based on what I had told them. Perhaps he was actually disappointed that the pleasant calm times were coming to an end, as the two years of peace were like heaven compared to what we had been through when dealing with Carver and his lackeys. "Max is losing his grip on him, and I don't how much more resistance I can put up without tripping some sort of warning bells in their head"

"Odd question, but did you guys suddenly come into possession of some metal sheets recently?" Russell posed the question, watching Nick's reaction carefully. Nick didn't seem to deny it outright - his eyes tilting upwards as if trying to remember something specific - before he nodded his head to say that he did recall something along those lines.

"Lonnie came back with some recently, wouldn't say where he got it from"

Russell and Wyatt both sighed simultaneously, as that was where their missing ones had gone to. It wasn't like they could tell the people blaming them where it really was going, as most of the people in the community were blissfully unaware that there even was a raiding party in the first place. Them tattling on that would only get Nick into trouble via correlation, which helped nobody... But it sure was frustrating.

With Jane collecting the bowls of food once they had eaten their fill, most of the people within that room stretched out gently before making mental plans of going to bed. Myself included, right up until Nick curled his arms around me again, pulling me down to lie on the couch with him.

"Nick, this isn't the place to fall asleep" I giggled, poking him softly in one of his cheeks and only laughing more when he grumbled softly. It didn't provide as much resistance as I was used to, which did worry me ever so slightly that he hadn't been eating properly while within the raiding party.

"Well, he did take the most uncomfortable bed and mattress on this floor based on the fact he'd be here the least" Wyatt did remember that little tidbit, as Nick's bed on the apartment floor was nothing more than a metal frame with the thinnest mattress in existence. Compared to that, sleeping on the couch with me curled in his arms must have been pure heaven.

 _"Ah well_ " I thought to myself, weighing up the different options in my mind. I had been planning to stay the night in his room anyway, so it only seemed fair to let him keep lying there. We would be woken up by people milling about in the morning - which was closer than one might think considering how late it was - but those couple of hours of restful sleep would be better than more hours restlessly tossing and turning.

After pressing a kiss to his lips, I closed my eyes and snuggled close to him. In the background I could distinctly make out the noise of some people chuckling and snickering at how sappy the two of us were, but made no effort to stop us from doing so. Soon, I could hear Wyatt and Russell wish us all pleasant dreams before moving off to their beds, before Troy trudged over to the couch to give me an affectionate ruffle of my hair. He too said goodnight (mainly to Jane, as he likely believed that she was the one most awake to hear him), before the door to the common room opened and closed with him leaving as well. Jane remained for a while longer - making a distinct point to softly part my hair and correct it from Troy's ruffling - before I felt the comforting warmth of a blanket softly being laid over the both of us.

With the door closing one final time after Jane, it acted as the final moment of that day and allowed me to slip off to sleep. The feeling of a ticking clock seemed to resume in my mind after so long, possibly from the mention of Badger and Javi within one sitting, counting down the days - or possibly even hours - until the serenity of peace would be shattered once more.


	2. Placebo Effect

"Aww, look at how cute they are snuggled up together" Sarita quietly cooed, heralding the start of a new day.

"Shh! You'll wake them up!" Carley softly reminded her, but by then the figurative damage had been done.

Despite their best attempts to whisper quietly so as not to disturb Nick and I, the mere addition of their voices caused my mind to slowly start up like priming an engine. That, combined with the momentary flash of light coming into the room - before someone hurriedly told that same person to shut the curtains before we'd be bothered by the sunlight - meant that ignoring it and rolling over back to sleep was not going to happen.

"Good morning Prim" The soft southern drawl accompanying that voice meant it had to be Kenny, him softly leaning down to press a gentle kiss to my forehead after he saw clear signs that I was beginning to wake. He, like Jane, Troy and Nick, was one of my lovers dating all the way four years back when I had first come to this world. Arguably, he and Shawn were the very first ones to receive that title. "I need to go to work already, but you feel free to roll over if you want to"

He knew the smile crossing my lips had to be genuine simply based on the fact that my brain was not awake enough to fabricate any lie. One of my hands followed after him for a brief moment to find more of that loving touch, but he already must have drawn his head away as all I was able to find was one of his own hands lingering by his hips. He took the opportunity to surround my smaller hand with his larger warmer variants, rubbing a small circle with his thumb onto my palm, before he regrettably had to leave for work. He was one of the early morning guards for the front gates (as evidenced by the symbol burned into the back of his right hand to signify he was part of the military side of things), and he took his job seriously.

"It's good to see you man" Luke spoke to the sleep deprived man at my back, the people within the common room giving up on the notion of letting us sleep the rest of the day away now that they had seen my wandering hands. Nick grumbled predictably, one of his hands patting around blindly to find the blanket that had been half shrugged off while the other wrapped around my chest in case I dared to think about leaving his warm touch. I giggled when I felt Nick bring up the blanket in a vain attempt to keep the sunlight away from our eyes, doing so even more when Luke simply yanked the blanket free off us. "Come on sleepyheads"

"Kenny said I could roll over if I wanted to" I exaggerated the whine in my tone of voice, but my voice betrayed my laughter when I felt Nick switch tactics and try to shield his eyes by using my shoulder instead.

"Alborotadora" Carlos quickly could spot the inconsistencies with my words and my actions, as he and Luke knew me better than most due to loving me. My knowledge of Spanish had gotten better in the meantime, recognising the teasing nickname he had just used for me; causing another smile to cross my lips. "As much as we could let Nick sleep the entire day, Katjaa and I need you to accompany us to a meeting today"

Nick huffed, but accepted the fact that his fantasy of laying in bed with me the entire day would have to happen some other day. After relinquishing his hold around my waist, I allowed my eyes to softly open and get used to the light filtering through the thick blanket of clouds and subsequently the curtains keeping it at bay.

The first thing that caught my eye was the three young teenagers sitting jointly on one of the lazy chairs nearby, Sarah in the middle with both Duck (technically Kenny Junior, but people hardly ever called him that) and Clementine sitting on the arm rests surrounding her. In the two years since the two young kids had met her, Sarah had begun to grow more confident in herself; even allowing her formerly shoulder length hair grow out to the point that she commonly wore it in two braids over her shoulders. That seemed to be the thing they were doing at the moment, Duck attempting to follow along to Clementine's deft fingers to put one half of Sarah's hair within a braid.

They had been a unit of three for around two years by then - Sarah and Duck both being in a relationship with Clementine despite not having feelings for each other in that manner - and they had never been closer. It had happened practically days after we had been invited to join the New Frontier, with both teenagers telling Clementine within minutes of each other - while assuring her that they would always love her. Once she was certain that the both of them was fine with it, she copied my example and loved them both in a polyamorous manner.

Sometimes I had to remind myself that Duck wasn't always such a towering figure now that he was fifteen years old, the further two years making his height skyrocket as the proper food and puberty allowed him to reach his full potential. I sincerely hoped that he wasn't going to be growing much more, as he already was half a head above me and bordering on outgrowing his own god father (Kenny) as well.

"...Am I doing it right?" He eventually asked Clementine, his deeper voice coming through much better now that his voice didn't crack and break anymore. She chuckled quietly at how nervous he was - simply based on the fact that Duck never had been uncertain about shooting guns or anything else far more frightening - but she did nod her head to say that he was doing just fine.

Sitting up on the couch to stretch out my shoulders, it didn't surprise me to see that not everyone was gathered there with the kids. There naturally was no sign of Russel, Wyatt or Troy based on the fact they needed their rest after their late night work, and others within our sizable group weren't always up at the crack of dawn like some people were.

Walter was stationed in the kitchen to make a meal that could function as everyone's breakfast once they woke up properly, Sarita sat in the other available chair knitting a small warm woolen set of mittens for Rose (Omid and Christa's little bundle of joy), while Carley and Katjaa pored over a set of notes they had specially made for the aforementioned meeting that Carlos had mentioned.

Our groups medical expertise had always been with Katjaa and Carlos due to their professions before the end of civilization, but that had only grown further since Sarita, Walter and Sarah took on that important task to lessen their load. Sarita and Walter had tremendous bedside manner that couldn't be so simply taught, and Sarah took to the influx of information brilliantly based on the fact she had been introduced to it from a young age.

"Are we seriously having creamed spinach _again?_ " Luke sighed softly after he began to recognise the telltale smell wafting from the kitchen. Spinach was a stable vegetable that we grew within the New Frontier, but after having it for what felt like the millionth time, people certainly started to get a bit sick of having it served. 

"It's far better than wondering where your next meal is going to be coming from" Walter had a good point, but I could spot his hands reaching for the salt reserves we had been given in our last meal pack. I suppose even he was hoping to give it some kind of special kick, just to throw out the monotony of the meal.

While one could have seen it as souring the mood, I wasn't bothered by the lighthearted bickering going on between the two men. We were quite blessed to have that two years of peace going on; where we had the opportunity to even have silly things to argue about with one another. It truly was cozy.

I was just about to ask for a cup of tea to warm my body in the cool autumn morning, when I was interrupted by the sound of someone knocking against the common room door. Considering everyone within our own group had the habit of just turning the door handle when we returned to our own special floor, it seemed highly unlikely that it was Kenny returning after he had forgotten something. Carley was the first one to pluck up the courage to stride across the room and open the door for our visitor, as everyone else was busy with other things or silently hoping to delay having to go work just yet.

"Ah, good morning" It was a little surprising - not a lot, just a little - to see that David Garcia was the one to come and collect us. One of the four leaders of New Richmond - the leader of the military despite Joan's attempts to undermine him - he typically was too busy to come and collect the smaller personnel personally. "Is Primrose here?"

Oh, so that's why he was here. It hadn't been the first time that the four leaders of the community had wanted to speak to me personally, so I saw what was coming the moment he asked for me by name. As much as I would have liked to pretend that I wasn't there, I did want to be there for Carlos, Katjaa, Sarah, Walter and Sarita for their meeting that morning.

"I'm here" Deciding that we would have to put off breakfast until the meeting had been sorted, I stood up and began to clip on my cargo belt that I had removed the previous night. Walter soon enlisted Duck and Luke to watch over the pot of creamed spinach (as much as the latter pretended to gag when he was asked), while he and the other four joining me started to collect their things to be ready to go.

"Sarah, hold up" Clementine did momentarily stop her girlfriend from leaving, but Sarah turned to look at her with a confused face based on the fact that her braids were already done. Gently tilting her glasses upwards on her face so that she could access the other girl's nose without banging into the frame, Clementine pressed a gentle kiss to the indentation that Sarah's glasses typically left behind - for the express reason that that area was sensitive, Clementine had once told me when I had asked her about it - before letting the very same glasses back down over her eyes.

Sarah didn't do much more than blush softly and smile at her, giving a soft touch with one of her fingers across Clementine's cheek as a momentary goodbye. Carley copied my young daughter's idea by pressing a quick kiss to my cheek, telling me and anyone who dared look our way that she wasn't at all worried about displaying her love in a similar way.

David's eyes seemed to be blank when I turned my eyes to look at him, as though he was unable to process the acts of love that he had just witnessed from Clementine and Carley. It certainly stuck me as odd - he was a man who had been married at least twice, and fathered two children - shouldn't he have known what that feeling was like?

Silently filing away that piece of information into the back of my mind, we followed after him into the stairwell of our building. It had become quite the ingrained habit to go up and down them (as we were nearly the top floor of the tall apartment building), so much so that the sound had become a little ditty to start our day. Sarita had even made it a habit of humming a tune that somewhat matched that sound, which made me happy in it's own right... But perhaps that was down to the fact I loved her.

"You're cute when you hum" Ever the romantic, I felt it would be a disservice to her to not tell her how much she was on my mind. Her smile was as bright as the sun, and I was even more pleased to know that I was the cause for it.

"You're both so affectionate in public, my goodness" Walter had been friends with Sarita longer than anyone in our group, so maybe that was why he was the first one to make a teasing comment on it. That and the fact that Katjaa was long used to people being hopelessly romantic around her, Carlos wouldn't dare make a remark considering he too was my lover, plus Sarah was a sweet lesbian child who loved seeing two women being blissfully in love.

"Like you and Matthew wouldn't do the same" Sarita gave as good as she got, fitting her arm around mine like it had always belonged there.

"Touché" Walter laughed, as he couldn't deny her claims in the slightest. All the while, David was oddly silent about the entire exchange going on, all the way out into our community.

Despite the thick layer of black clouds covering the sky above our heads, there was no holding back the bits of light that did manage to filter through. We hadn't had a 'clear day' of weather in four years, but even so the sun did not give up on providing us with its warmth and light throughout an entire day. Many people took it to be a sign of hope still living on despite the end of the world as we knew it, myself included.

I wasn't able to claim that I was an unknown person anymore; several people waving and saying hello when we passed them by. They all were the newcomers to New Richmond, as my warm nature and communication meant that I was that little bit of comfort for those who didn't quite feel like they fit in quite yet. The people who had integrated successfully were more likely to say their greetings to David - whether it was because he was their leader in the military or simply because they were more likely to encounter his people regardless of what task they had in the community - so in the simplest meaning of the world I felt like I was the metaphorical stepping stone for people to find their place. I was fine with this, as much as it didn't sound particularly grandiose... But therein lied the problem with why I was being personally summoned.

Arriving to the cathedral within our community, it was clear to see that my group of five weren't the only ones to join us there. The council of four leaders didn't quite have that wide reaching democratic effect on the people within their community, which often spurred some people to come to their meetings to let their problems become known before they got out of hand; hence the straggling amount of random people who had joined us into the cathedral.

"Regardless of how this goes, I'm hoping you'll stick around after the meeting to discuss our offer to you" David got right down to brass tacks, stopping right before walking into the cathedral's half open door. Perhaps he was hoping to convince me before the meeting, before other less sympathetic voices could join his.

"I've told you multiple times that I'm not accepting your offer" I sighed, trying to sidestep around David to ignore him. David had predicted that I would do so - I likely had done it before when he had tried this tactic last time - his broader frame being able to block the door just by shuffling one of his feet to the side. Had he and I not been getting along cordially over those two years, I would have considered slamming my steel toed boots directly between his open legs. "Can you at least let my people in? They need to discuss something with Lingard at this meeting"

David's eyes sharply observed mine, as though he was trying to decipher whether I was lying to him just so I could slip by him in the momentary confusion. After a short while of us staring each other down, he obliged and shifted his other foot back to his side; his shoes clacking together as though he was attempting to salute someone. While certainly not impressed with him badgering me, I was polite enough to remain rooted on the spot as Katjaa led her group of five past him.

As Carlos slipped by him I could recognise a momentary flash of anger in his eyes, that very same rage leaving when I waved him off. I didn't want a repeat of what happened with Carver happening right at that moment, regardless of whether Pete was here or not.

"I know you've been hesitant to accept our offer in the past-

"That's putting it mildly"

"But I really feel that the community needs your voice on the council" David kept talking despite my interruption, a firm tone behind him. As much as my impression of him was not that great in first instance, this real life version of him really was focused. A terrible husband and father, sure, but a confident leader when the right situation came calling. "It's not a question of _want,_ it's one of _need_ "

"Neat" I bluntly refused his attempt to play to the 'greater good', tiptoeing around him now that he had made his case. He didn't attempt to stop me this time, but I could hear the audible sigh coming from him before he eventually followed after me into the cathedral.

The four leaders of the council were Clint, Joan, Lingard and David. While Clint I had known since the beginning (he was in charge of agriculture, which played quite well to Shawn and Luke's expertise), Joan and Lingard had joined us afterwards alongside David. I wasn't entirely sure of the history with Lingard and David - there was something there for sure - but the former had become the leader of our medical side of things in the New Frontier. Joan, she was in charge of development and infrastructure, but I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable whenever she was in the room due to the power of hindsight; my own special brand of knowledge of this world reminding me of her horrific atrocities no matter how friendly she appeared.

"Thank you all for showing up this morning" Clint politely greeted everyone, him being the most beloved in the community due to his friendly nature. The response to his well wishes were mostly met with tired groans because most of the people attending were not exactly morning people, but Clint took it well with a small chuckle. "If we can keep the topics of discussion short and sweet, then we'll be all out of each others hair and getting on with this fine day within a couple of hours"

Most of the things brought up by the people attending were complaints, things that could be improved or simply something that had been largely overlooked because it had been deemed a 'nice to have' rather than a 'need to have'. Now that we were in as comfortable a position as we had been in years, people finally had a chance to discuss things cordially in an attempt to make things more like a home rather than a temporary shelter in the cold concrete and steel walls of our community.

Things like the shower water always being a frigid temperature, the showers always being located in the middle of an open parking lot which didn't exactly give much privacy against others, the food reserves not always matching the size of people who were living together, and others were brought up.

Each time something was mentioned, I could see Clint glance to me out of the corner of one of his eyes, and I would nod my head to each one. A stranger might have assumed that Clint was looking for support in me based on how long we'd been working together, but in all actuality it was him confirming with me whether I had heard whispers of such complaints circling around the community before. It did mean that I couldn't exactly claim that I was useless to the others when they tried to recruit me, but I couldn't find it in my heart to leave Clint in the rough.

"Lingard, we'd like to discuss the amount of antibiotics being handed out to people on a regular basis" Before long it was Walter's turn, standing up and holding the piece of paper in his hands that Katjaa had prepared beforehand for him to read from. It contained all of the pros and cons that Sarita, Katjaa, Carlos, Sarah and he had been discussing among their little quintet for a long while, and the only reason he gained the right to talk over all of the others is because he undoubtedly was the best with words. Leave it to the man quite interested in psychology to talk rings around other people if they tried to reject the notion. "We want to have the amount of medication that is being handed out reduced, letting the body's natural defense mechanism work first before outside help is given"

"...Fine, motion shall be passed" Lingard immediately agreed to what they were saying, waving an extremely tired looking arm and subsequent hand as if to say that it was no problem at all.

While it meant they got their request accepted right away, Walter and the others couldn't help but glance at each other confused. They had built up an entire speech on why it should happen, and it seemed to take the wind right out of their sails when there was no resistance given to it.

Upon closer inspection, there were heavy bags underneath Lingard's eyes; the kind that didn't just appear out of nowhere overnight. Those were accompanied by a hazy and unfocused look in his eyes himself, and the possible worry of him starting to get high off medication was starting to learn more towards a confirmed notion. I wasn't the only one to notice, David sparing a momentary worried glance before sighing in another disappointed manner like he had used for me.

"You... You didn't even listen to all of the points we were going to mention" Katjaa rightfully spoke up to mention their worry about something being passed without that person even considering it. If it were a motion of prescribing cocaine to children under five, would he have even listened?

Lingard was not completely out of it, being able to register the various different people giving him concerned looks. Nobody had the cohones to actually say that he was being irresponsible right in the middle of a meeting, but there certainly would be stern words given to him afterwards; especially if he had the displeasure of being alone with me.

"...Alright, mention your points please" Lingard tiredly requested Walter to start talking, which my group member quite happily did.

I could tell from what I had heard Carley and Katjaa recite that morning that Walter had taken some liberty of what was written down; making far more of a summary in case he were to lose Lingard's interests. Unfortunately for him and everyone involved, I had the strong impression that Lingard had drifted off with the fairies while listening in.

"...Thank you Walter" Lingard eventually perked up long enough to pretend to be paying attention, but I and several others in the medical quintet could tell that there was a suspicious lack of him mentioning any of the pros and cons just mentioned to him. "We'll take those things into account when we pass the motion..."

Carlos grumbled, but he could tell that trying to argue the point wouldn't get us anywhere in that moment in time. With Sarah gently pulling on Walter's arm to get him to sit, the five of them accepted that while they were in the meeting their words would be about as helpful as throwing a snowball in hell.

The rest of the meeting passed by quite quickly, as most of the requests or complaints were the kind of things that had to be investigated before they would be promised (aside from the one obvious outlier). But while the end of the meeting ticked by - happening right at the chime of the midtown bell announcing that it was seven in the morning - I didn't have the luxury of slipping out with my people at the end.

"And that's time! Thank you all for coming to this possibly dreary meeting" After a small bit of self deprecating humour to cheer up the people who had found the entire thing boring, Clint softly clapped his hands together to signal that people were free to leave if they so wished. That offer didn't apply to me however, finding me long before I could stand up from my chair at the side of the podium. "Primrose, if you would please stay for a moment longer?"

While it was phrased as a question, there was no real way I could say no. I wouldn't hear the end of it from David's people searching through the community for me, and they'd just ask again once the next meeting would roll around. The four council members clearly were hoping that the more persistent they would be, that I would eventually give in... But they were not as stubborn as I could be.

I gave Carlos and Sarita both a special wave, bringing a hand to my lips to give the two of them an air kiss before they could miss me. Carlos clearly whispered a term of endearment under his breath before chasing his excited daughter out of the cathedral, Sarita doing so as well before giving me one of her bright smiles. As they left me there, I shifted my chair from the side of the podium closer to the center, being alone with the four leaders after the cathedral doors softly shut after the last people left.

"I suspect you already know what we're going to ask you" Clint could see the irritated look in my eyes, which I had stopped trying to hide by that point. There was only so much patience I could have after the sixth month passing by with these consistent tactics.

"David had pretty much given it away" I confirmed his suspicions, even purposefully inspecting my fingernails like they were wasting my time and theirs (they were). It wasn't necessarily supposed to be a sign of me believing that I was better than them in any way, but more of an indication that there were so many things that I could have been doing in the meantime.

For over six months, I had been offered to join the council of four leaders - soon to be five if I were to ever accept their offer. One could really wonder what kind of addition one would need to agriculture, security, development and health, but it seemed like they had found another; the voice of the people.

I was kind to people, holding a kind of warmth that a number of new members admitted they hadn't seen in years. That, and my fortunate position of being the immigration expert and a founding member of the community meant that I had an in to the kind of talk that most others couldn't get. Even Clint, who arguably was the kindest on the council currently, sometimes would accidentally get people clamming up around him because of his high status. As a community that strove to be a democracy as much as it could after the end of the world, the argument was quite sound to have someone who spoke for the little guy; the kind of person who might initially be overlooked.

"People trust you Primrose" David told me what he had heard from others in the community, as I wouldn't have dared to beat my chest if I hadn't heard as much myself.

While I was hearing David and Clint try their best to convince me with proof and moral arguments, I could tell that Lingard was too distracted to make any sort of observations or claims himself. And Joan... Well, she was giving me that particular kind of smile that I didn't like; the kind that didn't reach her eyes. A cold smile, like she was observing me purely to see what kind of benefit she could get out of it.

"I don't think it's a good idea for me to become a leader like that" I told them, mentally loading up different bits of logic in my mind to point out why they would regret picking me. Truthfully I was just trying to poke a big enough hole in their legitimate claims to get out of it. "People clam up around you guys because they see you as something above them compared to 'one of them'. If I became one of you, that same stigma would just get tacked onto me next"

"You don't know whether that's true" David disagreed, but unfortunately his choice of words was a little too close to someone antagonistic I had faced two years prior. Ah well, that wasn't my only defence to the notion anyway.

"To top things off, I'm not nearly unbiased enough to function as a voice for the people. You _know_ I would take one of my own people's points over others even if it didn't make sense" That one most certainly was not a lie; I trusted the thirty-nine people with me with my entire being. I would burn down the entire city if it meant they and I could have a happy ending that I wanted... But I don't think the four people sitting in front of me knew that.

"You wouldn't be responsible for making changes necessarily, just presenting them forward to us so we're aware of them" Bless his heart, Clint still saw me as a purely good person who would do anything to make a better world. Even with my admission of not being unbiased, he was trying to find a place for me, which did make my heart falter for a brief moment. He was a good man, and it hurt to reject him time and time again. "We can't fix something if we don't know there's a problem"

There was one more reason that I kept hidden within my head (and possibly my heart too), for the simple good reason that I knew people would label it as selfish. It wasn't as if I was in denial about it being selfish - I knew full well that it was so myself - but I just knew that people outside of my group would never accept it.

The only reason that was keeping me from becoming one of their council members, was the simple fact I knew I wouldn't be able to easily detangle myself from the community when it came to leaving. The people from the third and fourth season lay outside of these walls (most of the time anyway, for the former out of the two), and I didn't want to make any commitments to a community that I was not going to be staying with.

"Which is exactly what I'm doing right now" I took the easiest option presented to me, deciding to cut that attempt of theirs short by standing up. David and Clint were trying their best, but it was clear that they weren't going to convince someone who had already made up their mind. Combining that with Lingard being high off his rocker, and Joan seemingly just listening in out of amusement, it seemed like we were going nowhere. "See you guys around"

David released another soft sigh, but said nothing to stop me from leaving. Clint returned my well wishes, seemingly accepting that he would have to try some other time if he really insisted on wanting me. All in all, I would have left them without much of a worry in my mind, if it weren't for the last thing said to me.

"Yes, because heaven forbid you think about someone else" The tone was so icy, there was no way it could have belonged to either David or Clint if they had ever tried to be antagonistic. And considering despite his occasional stupid decisions, Lingard was not a cruel man, so that left one possibility. "Anything to get your perfect little ending to your _game_ "

My feet were rooted in place for a moment, my head turning back to see the look on Joan's face. That same cold smile was present there, but her eyes were observing me very keenly - as if she was poking me for some kind of reaction. Her specific choice of words (no matter how one thought about it, it made more sense to end that sentence with 'story'), and more importantly the inflection behind them seemed to say that she knew more than the average person did. That kind of tone was typically used only by me.

"Joan! That's no kind of tone to take with someone!" Clint wasn't impressed in the slightest, already pulling her up on her tone with me. That observing tone in her eyes quickly got shed in place of an innocent look, seemingly settling for the meagre reaction she might have gotten from me pausing for a brief moment. "Especially not Primrose!"

"My excuses, I must be letting my emotions take hold of me" I turned around right as she responded to him, deciding to leave while she was being reprimanded.

Whether it was her intention or not, she had given me a vital piece of information that most other villains I had met had yet to give me. Joan had clearly given away that she knew something she shouldn’t, and I was going to twist it in my favour.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Romantic theme songs for different characters in Prim's group of lovers! (Courtesy of my romantic spotify playlist, haha)
> 
> Kenny - Open Arms (Journey)  
> Shawn - A Whole New World (Peabo Bryson)  
> Carley - Still Into You (Paramore)  
> Doug - Something About The Way You Look Tonight (Elton John (I recommend the remastered version)  
> Glenn - Up Where We Belong (Joe Cocker)  
> Mark - Forever And For Always (Shania Twain)  
> Lilly - This Feeling (The Chainsmokers ft. Kelsea Ballerini)  
> Ben - Thinking out Loud (Ed Sheeran)  
> Travis - You Raise Me Up (Josh Groban)  
> Omid - Need You Now (Lady A, or Glee Cast)  
> Nick - Girl of My Dreams (Brandon Heath)  
> Luke - Highway Don't Care (Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift, Keith Urban)  
> Carlos - Angels Brought Me Here (Guy Sebastian)  
> Pete - Kiss Me Slowly (Parachute)  
> Sarita - Breathe (Faith Hill)  
> Troy - Half of My Heart (John Mayer)  
> Jane - Jai Ho!/You Are My Destiny (A.R. Rahman ft. The Pussycat Dolls)  
> Bonnie - How Do I Live (LeAnn Rimes)  
> Vince - Save The Best For Last (Vanessa Williams)
> 
> Prim - Go the Distance (Michael Bolton)
> 
> Feel free to ask why I picked them, or maybe come up with your own theories why :3  
> Love you all!


	3. Livin' the High Life

The little bits of sun filtering through the dark clouds still were shining bright when I left that cathedral, the sounds of the city coming alive supplementing it perfectly. Some people truly felt comforted by the belief that the world would keep turning on without them, that things would continue no matter what things took place. I was not one of those people, but the warmth that light brought certainly did help brighten any dark thoughts that may still have been lingering around in my mind after the unpleasant exchange taking place only moments before.

"What do you mean 'you forgot'?" One of the more noticeable noises coming from the waking city came from Lilly at the gates, her arms crossed as she sternly told off whoever it had been that forgot something important. She didn't even have to yell to cut through most of the other noises, as her sharp tone and commanding presence meant that people often couldn't help but listen to her even if they weren't involved in the original discussion. "You took on the branding to be considered part of the security forces, but you somehow can't seem to remember to bring the schedule with you?"

Carley was accompanying her, as the two of them often liked to be grouped together in whatever sort of task they were doing. They both assured me that it wasn't down to any romantic inclination - despite them both being into women _and_ the fact that I would have had zero problems with the two of them becoming involved with one another if they so chose - just that they felt like the other understood them quite well.

As for what Lilly typically was doing, well... The leaders quite quickly noticed that she could give a strong verbal tongue lashing to those who needed it to pull up their bootstraps, and most others didn't want to be the person to go around chiding everyone. Not Lilly however, so the task quite quickly was handed over to her.

Whoever she had been yelling at was hurriedly descending one of the multitude of ladders on the front gates, likely wanting to either apologise sincerely to her or duck past her to go find the missing schedule. Unfortunately for him, he had quite the bit of audience in the form of the other guards stationed on the gates themselves, who watched on with amusement at their comrade being told off (likely after they had warned him that such a thing was going to happen). If they weren't careful, they likely could have become the next target if not enough people were looking over the proper entrance to our city.

One of the people completely unbothered by the notion of being told off by Lilly naturally was Kenny - he had gotten so used to butting heads with her in the past that he probably would have found it downright strange to not get one or two teasing remarks from her - his entire demeanour screaming that he was utterly relaxed; leaning on the railing with one of his cheeks softly resting in a palm as he watched on. The grin on his face only seemed to switch to a warm one once he noticed me walking their way, his heading giving a tiny bob in a way to greet me now that I was fully up and awake.

"Good morning Prim!" Mark, who stood beside Kenny with his own rifle carefully resting in his hands, was the first one to verbally greet me once he saw me there. That in turn caused the offending troublemaker to get off the hook with Lilly, as she and Carley naturally turned around to verify my arrival themselves. All four of them were part of the nineteen strong group of lovers that were part of my group (some might have considered it to be far too many, but as long as everyone was aware and alright with it I saw no problems coming our way), so it only made sense that their previous amused and/or frustrated faces softened into loving gazes instead. "Meeting go well?"

"Largely" I left it at that, as talking about Joan's odd comment in public was dangerous at best. Being able to tell that I was being unusually terse with them on the subject, I could see that a number of those four had a glimmer of a different emotion flicker by in their eyes; they were filing away that piece of information to bring up for later, like I often did. "I'm surprised to see that Mark's here today though"

"He's filling in for Simone; she's looking after her kid for the day" Kenny explained why Mark was even there in the first place, as everyone within our group knew that Mark was _not_ one of the three people in my group to have the branding. "Can you believe what Mark said?"

"It's not that stupid!" Mark defended whatever he must have discussed with Kenny earlier in that day, honestly sounding like a kicked puppy now that his pal was bringing it up. Kenny didn't stop there however, spurred on by the fact that my grin was growing by the minute.

"He said that if he had to get the brand anywhere, that he would have gotten it on one of his pecs" Kenny spilled the secret, and just as he expected I gave my own laugh at the mental image that conjured up in my mind.

"Ah yes, I too would want to be forced to take my shirt off to prove that I'm truly a member" I cracked that joke, as the entire reason behind the branding itself had come around due to some traitors we had in the past who stole some items before fleeing our city. Not only did the branding dissuade people from doing that, it meant that it was much easier for others within the community to recognise each other if they happened to step foot outside the walls... Provided it was in a convenient place to find.

That entire exchange would have been the perfect time for the troublemaker to have slipped by without a single sound, but it seemed that he was possibly just as clumsy as he was forgetful. The sound of him tripping over a left behind brick was the first thing to break the laughter coming from myself, and people naturally turned their heads when they heard the rest of his body thud against the ground nearby. With all attention now back on him, he had to pick the more undignified exit of scrambling away from our curious gazes.

"Harry giving you guys trouble again?" I couldn't help but remark about him, as I remembered the day he had integrated into the community. Young adult arriving by himself in the early spring the previous year, quite eager to prove himself and find a place to belong. Possibly too eager, as he might have chewed off more than he could handle with becoming an early morning guard for the front gate.

"It's the third time this month" Carley sighed, she and I likely similarly wondering why the task often got given to him if he was often this forgetful about bringing things along to his watch. "He's got a good record otherwise down to the fact that he's got great observation skills, so we've been called on to try and fix his issues"

"A firm word accompanied by gentle reasoning. And that's why you two are the best rule enforcers in this place" I allowed myself to gush over the both of them in that moment, supplementing my words by giving them each a lingering kiss on their lips before they had to leave. I could audibly pick up the small chuckle Lilly gave when I had to slightly stand on the tips of my toes (she always was going to be that bit taller than me after all), but it soon changed into a quiet pleased hum when our lips locked. Brief as it may have been, those kisses often pulled me through the boring or dark days that may have been in the city over those two years.

There was a moment where I mulled over the possibility of climbing up the ladders of the gate to give Mark and Kenny their own personal tokens of affection as well, but there was the high likelihood that I would get in the way of their work or their comrades way during my trek up and down. As such, I had to settle for sending two air kisses their way with a bright smile to go with it. They reacted in their own special ways, Mark's hand coming up and gently closing as if to catch it while Kenny returned the gesture with one of his own.

"You guys behave now" I left them with that, intending to make a sweep around the city to make sure everything was running as smoothly as it could. It happened to be one of the few days I had off (Clint had decided upon break days himself, as he didn't want people getting run down or burned out), but there was no real chance of me spending the entire day in bed... But I would gladly search through the community to spend time with members of my group.

Heading inwards towards the centre of the city, it didn't take all that long to see people moving from building to building to get different tasks done at once. Most faces were vaguely familiar in the sense that I was likely one of the people who had helped them integrate into the community, but two of them were far more familiar off to one side.

It had taken quite a bit of planning (and subsequent convincing of other council members) for David to get his big idea off the ground, but he had built a big rooftop course running between five or six buildings that were seven to nine stories high. Designed for the military and security members to gain some of the muscle they may have lost after the end of the world, it was filled to the brim with leaps from one building to the other and different parkour opportunities to prepare them for the world outside our walls. Combined with vast stretches of fish netting, circus nets and other made catching devices laid all along the third floor of those buildings, it was as safe as one could manage to make it.

David and Ava were waiting at the beginning of the course with a group of around eight new military members - with still red branding marks to prove it around their necks and on their arms - as it seemed to be that the course was already being used by a small group of five people. As we had a maximum amount of people who could go on it at once (we didn't dare risk the possibility of two people falling off the same part of the course and colliding the short way down), David was passing the time by hyping them up with a rousing military speech.

Ava noticed me first out of the two of them, but she didn't greet me. She was David's right hand woman, but had become quite closed off to me around six months before that day. I assumed it was because of my repeated refusals to join the council, but until she actually admitted it to my face it would remain an assumption 'til the end.

"Hey Primrose" David didn't seem particularly stuck on the fact that I had refused his and Clint's attempts to make me join, instead going right back to how he was before that. I could never fully say that I had ever seen him particularly affectionate or warm with anyone, limiting himself to friendly comradery between people instead... Part of me wondered whether that was going to change if Kate arrived there with his children. "Would you mind asking your little bunch on the course to hurry things along? I know everyone should get a fair go at it, but they've been running through it for a long time"

"Oh, they're mine?" I asked him out of genuine curiosity, taking a couple of steps back to try and peer at the five people jumping between buildings. True enough, I could spot the momentary gleam of a hooked hand on one of the people alongside one smaller female that looked like my daughter. Considering Ben still had a lingering fear of heights and Clementine didn't like many of the teenagers in the community, it seemed extremely unlikely that they were doing the course with three strangers, so I made the natural conclusion that all of them were my people. "Ah, they are. I'll head up and let them know"

"Thank you" David was grateful for that, giving me a small smile before turning back to the new recruits. Ava didn't say anything to me the entire time, instead observing me keenly. Her gaze was nowhere near as piercing as the one I had gotten from Troy two years prior - when he had been in charge of monitoring me in Howe's Hardware - but I couldn't help but wonder why she felt the need to keep an eye on me.

The man stationed near the entrance of the course was another person I had brought into the community. His name was Zack, a bit of an older man who himself admitted that he wasn't going to be as useful as the younger people in New Richmond. He also said that he had missed cigarettes quite a bit, but that wasn't nearly as easy to fix as giving him a relaxed job.

"My people?" I asked him, pointing up to the people jumping around the course. He nodded his head, a man of little words if it didn't require it. While most other people found him too blunt or curt, I had a bit of a soft spot for him myself down to the fact he reminded me of Chuck. "I'm going up"

He gave a small grunt of approval, before softly pulling on the cord next to him. That cord worked to lower a ladder next to him, which would allow me to climb up the seven stories to the start of the course. Most people were technically supposed to leave via the exit at the very end of the course, but some people had gotten in the habit of just coming back Zack's way; they preferred climbing down the ladder network rather than sliding down the stomach churning slide that had been constructed at the other side.

Like living high in one of the apartment buildings, one quickly got used to the notion of climbing up the ladder network despite it seeming to take forever. And besides, it was worth the view once you were up there.

Once I was up there, I did just that; staring out over the vast expanse of the city from that building top. There were little patches of forest around the outside of the walls, but largely it was deserted old buildings left behind like a testament to the world before ours. In my more contemplative moments, I saw it as an art piece to cement in my mind; to remember old times lest their mistakes happen once again. It was far from the tallest building we had in New Richmond, but the fact you could see over the main gate into the world around us meant that it typically was something that everyone liked to do at least once a week. Granted you weren't afraid of heights, of course.

"You ready to try again?" I could hear Vince's voice coming from behind me, reminding me of what I had originally come up there to do. It wasn't just him there on the first building, as Clementine, Ben and Travis were waiting on the second building for him and Becca. It seemed like they had been mainly jumping from the first building to the second, as it was deceptively hard despite first impressions.

Because of the way the scaffolding had been constructed there, a number of pipes hung horizontally in the way of the jump to the second building. If someone were to leap off the steel board hanging off the first building, they had the choice of three different pipes to grab onto, before they had to climb those pipes in some manner to get onto the small board walk that would let them reach the second building. Despite it looking easy, it was quite common for newcomers to not leap far enough and instead plummet into the safety net beneath them.

"...Show it again please" Becca asked the three people on the other side to demonstrate what they had done, not quite ready to attempt the jump yet. She had only begun to use the course recently herself, so she was still quite the novice at it.

The only one giving the audible sigh out of the three on the other side came from Clementine herself, as my adoptive daughter often seemed to butt heads with Becca at different occasions. Part of it came from the fact that Clem hadn't been sheltered nearly as much as Becca had been, and believed that the other was just refusing to put one hundred percent of herself into it. Even Sarah had done the course a number of times herself despite growing up in a similar manner to Becca, so there was quite the bit of evidence to support Clementine's theory.

With ease that came from the fact they had done it a number of times, Travis went first, taking a running leap to reach the boardwalk before jumping onto one of the pipes and using that to jump the distance between the buildings. Even though they had the advantage of the second building's height, it still was impressive for me to see one of my loved ones make that jump.

"See, easy" Travis tried to reassure Becca that there was no real trick to doing it except for going for it, but his explanation got interrupted when he noticed me lingering behind Vince. "Prim!"

Travis was quite the physically affectionate one, especially now that he was old enough to not get funny looks directed his way when people saw us together. Preparing for his leap into my arms, I tensed my legs enough to keep my balance when he jumped, and I was more than pleasantly pleased when he planted a deep kiss onto my lips. As my arms curled around his chest I was reminded of just how much muscle he was gaining over those two years, bulking out quite a bit into a strong man.

"Ew, really?" It seemed that Becca was still not a fan of PDA, as she began to gag when she spotted Travis and I kissing in broad daylight. Despite her loud objections, I couldn't feel any change in Travis' kiss and I imagined that he had the very same insistence coming from me.

Vince smiled from where he stood, always seeming more than pleased to see me happy with one of my lovers. He had been the very last person to admit that he had feelings for me in the two year span we had been in the community, largely because he had admitted that he didn't feel the need to until I had asked him about it; he had already felt plenty loved. His lack of sexual interest meant that he wasn't likely going to be flirting with me or saying how sexy he thought I might be, but I knew just from that look in his eyes that he cared for me beyond words.

After Travis felt he had communicated his love enough, I gently lowered him down onto the ground with relative ease. Ben took the opportunity now that my arms were free to come forward to give his own towering hug - right after he had pulled a lever on his right arm to put his sharp hooked hand away. Ben's own show of affection came more from his hugs than his kisses did and I was more than happy to receive one from him, letting his taller frame cover mine and allowing his hand to softly pet the hair on the back of my head. That tall frame still held the lanky features I recognised from the first day I had seen him, but like Travis he truly was growing into himself rather than remaining the teen he had been for all of time... Yet another reminder to me of how real they were.

"Mum, please show Becca how to do this jump" Clementine called for me to do the jump instead of them, as it seemed that they were well and truly sick of doing it by then. "She's watched us do it five times by now, and she still won't try it"

"Shut up, not everybody can have wilderness training like some kind of savage" Becca started to bite back, and it was by then that I could see why Vince had decided to come along with them.

"Stop it" Vince gently pulled on the back of Becca's jacket to make her properly listen to him, which seemed to make her grumble more than anything else. She wasn't always going to be placated by being pushed and pulled around, and she knew it perfectly well. "I know you're mad at Shel keeping you from learning about things for a long time, but taking it out on others is childish"

As Becca grumbled once more before calming herself, I really found myself wondering exactly why she had come along with everyone in our group. She had been a deciding factor in Mike and Shel coming along - for the obvious reason for her older sister Shel, with Mike tagging along because he was too caring a boyfriend to leave behind family - but I admittedly had no knowledge of why Becca stuck around beyond the possible reason that she wanted to stay with family. She was around Sarah's age, so the concept of her leaving someday to find her own way in the world did cross my mind a number of times.

"I'll do the jump. It's probably been a while since I've done it anyway" I wasn't bothered by the idea of being the one to demonstrate the jump this time around, rolling my shoulders and ankles to stretch out my muscles before I'd start. It might have been that Travis, Ben and Clementine's way of doing it was not easy to understand, and just needed a different example to really get it. "Here I go, alright?"

I gave myself a decent bit of room to have a running start, before charging forward towards the metal beam hanging over the first building. It certainly hadn't been the first time I had done it, so I had memorised the fact that my running stride would give me a total number of three steps across that beam before I'd run out of space.

On the third step I drove as much force into my right foot as possible, using both my speed and power to leap through the air. The jump through the air gave me just enough time to realise that I had just jumped high enough for the second pipe and no higher, taking advantage of my preparation to brace; allowing my chest to collide against the pipe without forcing the wind out of my lungs. The second pipe was the easiest to climb up from, as my feet were able to dangle low enough to push off from the lowest pipe while one of my arms was able to reach upwards to curl around the highest one just above me. Once all of my limbs had something to secure myself with, it was as easy as climbing another ladder onto the board walk; within three seconds being located on the board walk and a single step away from the second building.

"Just like that" Ben gestured with his hooked hand towards me - he had never quite gotten out of the habit of gesturing with his right hand, as it had been his dominant back when it was still flesh - clearly approving of what I had done. "You even have some leeway in what you do. Jump too little and you have the third pipe to grab on, and jump too high and you'll reach the top pipe"

As if to support his words, he clearly prepared himself to go right after me, dashing across the rooftop after psyching himself up just that little bit. His stride was much larger than mine, and I carefully stepped off the boardwalk to give him the room if he needed it. Ben's longer legs meant that his leap was much higher than mine, quite confidently reaching the highest pipe without much effort. His hooked hand too was no hindrance, as he was able to use it as an anchor around the pipe to keep his balance, while using his flesh left hand to reach up for the wooden board walk. After that it was simply a matter of disconnecting his hook from around the pipe and up he went.

"And there is the reason why nobody believes you have a fear of heights anymore" I laughed, as there had been many a people who swore to heaven and hell that there was no way that Ben was afraid of leaping between tall buildings. It still was a memory cemented in the back of mind that he had a panic attack when he had to leap onto a moving train four years prior, but now the most people might have seen was a slight jiggle in his flesh hand when he was nervous.

"I just figure that if I'm jumping that I might as well do it with all of my being" Ben shrugged, finding some little reasoning in his head to brush his fear of heights to the side when it was necessary. "If I only jump with fifty percent, the chances of falling are much worse than giving it my all anyway"

"Whatever works for you, I'm proud of you for getting this far" I told him just how much I thought he had improved from the nervous babbling teen from the first season, pressing a kiss to one side of his well kept beard. He likely would have returned the gesture right back to me - the two of us circling in that same cycle of giving loving gestures - if it weren't for the sound of Travis leaping across the gap to join us.

Travis still was ever the daredevil, as he often purposefully aimed for the lowest pipe to test himself. Once he was on there he would work his upper body strength to push his entire body high enough before he could even reach the second pipe, effectively using the pipe as a glorified pull up. It had been one of the reasons he now was bulkier than his leaner best friend... Although he'd probably have to do quite a bit more to reach Nick or Mark's level of strength.

"Come on Becca, you can do it!" With all three of us across the gap proving that there were plenty of methods to get across, there honestly wasn't much more that we could show her. Travis still yelled various different bits of encouragement to her from the boardwalk on our building, but somehow she didn't look any more confident in doing it.

With neither Clementine nor Vince willing to go until she had, it was the end of the line in terms of examples that were going to be given. As she took a number of steps back and went for it, I could already feel my teeth worry my bottom lip. She wasn't sprinting; it was more towards a light jog at best, and I had the heavy feeling that wouldn't be enough to leap the gap.

It was clear that she had followed my example a little too close to the letter, taking only three steps over the metal beam before trying to leap while she still had about a third of the beam left to go. Unsurprisingly, the three of us watched on as she reached as far as she could, but didn't get nearly far enough before gravity started to drag her down to the safety net below.

"DAMN IT!!" We could all hear Becca yell that in frustration as she plummeted down towards the net, only really ending her frustrated shout once her back landed in the net and softly came to a halt four levels down from the start of the course. It seemed like this wasn't the first time the other four on the course had witnessed this occurrence, as Vince soon shouted down some advice to her.

"You jumped too early!"

"You told me last time that I jumped too late!!" Was her only response to that remark of his, apparently never quite getting the right timing on when she was supposed to begin her leap. Maybe her previous fails were also the reason why she was no longer sprinting over the beam, as she was quite demoralised and frustrated by the time I had come along. "Gah, never mind!! You guys finish the course or whatever, I'm getting out this side!!"

"Feel free to try another time!" I felt that it was only fair to still try to encourage her, but I couldn't hear much of a response beyond a frustrated noise coming from her. With Becca giving up for the day and clambering her way back into the ladder network, I still had the responsibility of getting the others out of David and Ava's way. "Do you guys want to quickly run the rest of the course with me? Apparently you guys have been hogging it for a while"

"We would have been long out if Becca could just get that first jump" Clementine pointed that out, as I knew the four of them were agile enough on the course to get through in a quick time. Just to prove it, Clementine leaped across the gap and landed on the second pipe just as I had managed to, scrambling up fast so that Vince could join us right afterwards.

"Don't be so hard on Becca, she'll get it" Vince said that right before he leapt after us, the weapons on his back and belt jangling somewhat when he landed on the third pipe. He often made a habit of running the course with weapons on him so that he'd get used to the weight added on.

"My problem isn't the fact that she didn't get it on the first try, it's the fact she won't push herself more than she is comfortable with" Clementine disagreed with that, and I held my tongue for just a moment longer. While she and Duck were exceptionally gifted in the things they did, Sarah had shown that she was willing to push out of her comfort zone if it called for it... Which was something that Becca wasn't doing. "If this was a life or death situation, we need as many people to be ready to support others if things outside of our control were to throw obstacles in our way"

It wasn't exactly nice, but she was right. If the universe were to suddenly throw a horde of walkers onto us, we'd need as many people to be able to look after themselves, especially if that moment fell right in line with a particular person's possible death. I couldn't afford to baby anyone in those moments... Hell, I was confident I wouldn't even need to keep an eye on Troy, who arguably had far more reasons to need assistance than Becca did.

"I'll bring it up with her and Shel sometime later tonight" I promised Clementine that I would do that, softly petting a particular part of her hat. Somehow it made me endlessly happy to see that she still allowed that, even at the typically troublesome age of thirteen. "Now, let's go!"

Despite possibly having a head-start from being the one to announce the begin of our little race, both Travis and Ben quickly managed to overtake me on the way to the next obstacle on the course. Vince lagged just that bit behind because of the guns and blades weighing him down, while Clem seemed more than comfortable to keep an even pace with me.

In between the second and third building were several different platforms kept together by sturdy iron and welded steel keeping them in place. Meant to be used akin to stepping stones, they were spaced just far enough apart that most people weren't able to just walk between them unless they had abnormally long legs to start with. That combined with the fact they were small platforms typically big enough for a single foot each, it was like the worlds most dangerous version of hopscotch; with a wrong step leading to a fall to the safety nets below.

Only Clementine's feet were small enough to put both together on one platform comfortably, and she purposefully did so with both of her feet on consecutive platforms to give her legs a bit more of a workout. The rest of us jumped deftly between six platforms before we were on the other side, only Travis and I daring to do it without glancing down where our feet went.

The next gap was definitely the easiest one on the course, with wooden walkways curving around the left and right hand sides of the gap for the newer people on the course. For the ones daring to test themselves, both walkways had billboards tightly nailed into them to allow people to try their wall-running techniques.

Both Clementine and Vince didn't see the need to try that this time around - maybe even trying to beat some sort of time in their heads - while I could see Travis and Ben try the wall run on the left billboard while I did mine on the right. Ben did a quick one that allowed him to run across the wall for three steps before using his elevated status to push off against the wall and confidently run onwards, while Travis did an even more daring version; twisting in what seemed to be a midair kick to the side of an imaginary persons head. My own mind was trying to conjure up a way to mix in one of Shawn's dropkicks into the wall run (he had taught me long ago, and I sincerely hoped I would be able to use it again), but realised at the last moment that it'd only really work if I had some kind of target to test it on... Ah well, some other time.

Between the fourth and fifth building had three different long beams running across the gaps, clearly meant to test people's balance. Travis and Clementine zipped right over the left and middle one respectively, but Ben and Vince took a bit longer after them. Ben's little wobble on his left hand returned as he carefully padded his way across, while Vince had to take some time to account for the weapons upsetting his natural balance. Myself, I was able to get across relatively easy with my nonslip boots combined with the fact I no longer had to worry about any broken feet getting in my way.

The final obstacle was a little one that had been inspired by the escape we had pulled off back at Howe's Hardware, with three ziplines descending to the lower final building. Boxes had been set up - and often were quickly refilled when empty - filled with little metal hooks that people could easily swing around the ziplines and slide down. The easy method naturally was to take one, carefully clip it on and only then proceed down the ziplines, but there of course was another one developed by the real speed demons of the community.

"Cowabunga!" Travis yelled out right as he leaped into the gap, only attempting to hook his metal device once his legs weren't on solid ground. He managed to get it quite snug around the zipline, shooting down like a man possessed. Everyone else copied his daring example with their own hooks except for Vince, who didn't want to risk damaging the weapons on his back if he could help it.

As such, we all comfortably made it to the end in a flash, with Travis undoubtedly being the winner if we had been racing. Clementine was just a step behind him, Ben right behind her, and I came a decent fourth and waited a moment longer for Vince to bring up the rear. Even with my breathing having to settle down from the more intense rhythm, it was great to exercise with them.

"That was great" Clementine seemed to be able to read my mind, her being all too eager to high five Travis once he held both of his hands up. Ben putting away his hook once more was the perfect opportunity for Vince and I to do the same with Travis, the lot of us still getting that buzz from the workout. "Now for the best part! I'll race you guys down!"

Clementine darted off to the long spiral slide that would take us right back down to the familiar concrete of the city, Travis darting right after her. Ben sighed - he wasn't the biggest fan of that slide - but went after his best friend to be able to huddle in a little trio with the other two. Seeing as it was recommended to not group too much together on the slide, I gladly let the three of them go down together, listening to the sound of them excitedly cheering (Ben's sounded closer to concerned, but that was to be expected).

Even when it seemed clear that Vince and I could have gone down, I couldn't help but turn my head to look over the view we had up there. Silly little things like that obstacle course had become such familiar comforts that I dreaded the day those peaceful days would shatter; especially so when it seemed like that was going to happen sooner rather than later.

"It'll work out" Vince said those words softly to me, bringing me back to him on that rooftop. He was smart enough to tell when my mind was wondering to things more complicated than the day to day goings on, and had learned well enough by then that asking the question of 'what are you thinking' would lead to me discussing the worries of the future. As such, he promised on the day we got together as a formal couple that he'd always reassure me instead. "You're never alone"

"...Yeah" I knew that fact, but it was good of him to remind me. Even a single person could turn the tide of fate, I was a good example of that, so it would be impossible to fail with an entire group of people pushing back. Rather than a small wave, we were an ocean. "Vince, may I kiss you?"

One of the things that had naturally been brought up when getting together was the fact that he was asexual. Kissing was a tad bit of a sensitive subject with him, as many of his past partners had used it as a symbol of them being sexually aroused at the time when they initiated that contact. Because of that, asking seemed only natural in case he didn't feel like it.

"Sure" Our open communication about things seemed to make Vince far more comfortable with it, smiling softly at me as I tiptoed closer to him. As my fingers curled softly around his cheeks, I made sure to press my lips softly to his. No roughness or urgency involved, even softly chanting a mantra in the back of my head about how much I loved him in the hopes it'd make it through into the contact. When our lips softly parted from one another, it was like music to my ears to hear the little laugh come from him. "...Heh, that's the best kiss I've had in years"

"And I plan to make each one after this one just as good" I made a silly little promise to him, my fingers releasing his cheeks in order to find his hands. That feeling of peace and love would return someday, it would definitely be there at the end of the fourth season; I truly believed that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got into Uni! Go me *tired cheer*  
> This does of course mean that my upload schedule might go spotty from now on, but I'll still try to find time between assignments and things to write here.  
> Until then, have this cute chapter to enjoy :3


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